We need to talk about Gavin: BT chairman Jan du Plessis has a tough decision to make about Gavin Patterson

When BT’s new chairman sweeps through the atrium of its head office in two weeks, he will have a decision to make: turn left or right. To the left is the bank of lifts that shuttles staff between the nine floors of the 1980s headquarters, which lies behind St Paul’s Cathedral in the City. Tucked away to the right is a more exclusive carriage — the “chairman’s lift”.

Jan du Plessis would be well advised to rub shoulders with the masses. A deepening deficit in the telecoms giant’s pension retirement scheme, and possible cuts to benefits, have caused disquiet among the company’s army of retirement savers.

The estimated £14bn black hole is just one of a number of crises the assured South African will have…